The Common Birds of Bombay

Edward Hamilton Aitken, The Common Birds of Bombay, Bombay: Thacker & Co, [1900], first edition

xiv + 195 pages including 32 black and white pen and ink illustrations for each chapter; bound in cloth on boards, a rich navy blue in colour, with the title reverse-embossed in gild in the upper left hand corner. The author’s popular pen name, EHA, is similarly reverse-embossed on the lower right hand corner of the upper board. The rounded spine carries the title in its upper side, also in gilt. The front cover is plain, i.e., unillustrated. The endpapers of this volume have a delicate floral patter (aka: fleurons) in a faded lilac hue.
8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 in (21.5 x 14 x 1.5 cm)

This is an association copy with personal inscription on the front endpaper.

The book comes along with a standard postcard measuring 3.5 x 5.5 in (9 x 14 cm) of Green Avadavat, printed by N V P Sluis, Netherlands.

Edward Hamilton Aitken was a civil servant in India, better known for his humorist writings on natural history in India and as a founding member of the Bombay Natural History Society. He was well known to Anglo-Indians by the pen-name of EHA.

The cult following for the writings of Edward Hamilton Aitken (1851–19091), also known as EHA, transcends time. His book The Common Birds of Bombay is prized by ornithologists like gold. Since the publication of his works at the turn of the 20th century, his supporters' fervour has not subsided. In the volume of common birds that he compiled in 1947, Sálim Ali, an extraordinary writer in his own right, praises EHA's work with great reverence.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.